Sugar mill top brass in Rs 97-cr bank fraud
New Delhi, February 25
The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case against Simbhaoli Sugars Limited, its chairman Gurmit Singh Mann, deputy managing director Gurpal Singh and others in connection with an alleged bank loan fraud of Rs 97.85 crore.
Simbhaoli Sugars Limited is one of the largest sugar mills in the country. The company’s chief executive officer, GSC Rao, CFO Sanjay Tapriya, executive director Gursimran Kaur Mann and five non-executive directors have also been booked.
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Gurpal Singh is the son-in-law of Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.
The CBI today carried out searches at eight premises and registered office of the company in Delhi, Hapur and Noida, CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said.
The probe focuses on two loans — Rs 97.85 crore, which was declared fraud in 2015, and another corporate loan of Rs 110 crore, which was used to repay the previous loan.
The second loan was declared NPA on November 29, 2016, nearly 20 days after scrapping of Rs 1,000 and old Rs 500 notes was announced, according to the CBI FIR.
The bank was allegedly cheated of Rs 97.85 crore, but the loss incurred by it is Rs 109.08 crore, the FIR read. The lender, Oriental Bank of Commerce, complained to the CBI on November 17, 2017, but the agency registered a case on February 22.
According to the FIR, OBC sanctioned Rs 148.60 crore in 2011 for financing 5,762 sugarcane farmers for supplying produce to the company from January 25, 2012 to March 13.
The money was “dishonestly diverted by the company for its own needs”, Dayal said.
The account turned NPA on March 31, 2015, and was declared alleged fraud by the bank to the RBI on May 13, 2015 for Rs 97.85 crore.
OBC alleged that in addition to the existing NPA, the bank, under multiple banking arrangements, sanctioned another corporate loan of Rs 110 crore on January 28, 2015, to pay the outstanding loan of Rs 97.85 crore.
The bank adjusted the total liability of Rs 112.94 crore by way of deposit of the new loan. “This, too, turned NPA on November 29, 2016.” — PTI
